The political establishment determines the boundaries of conventional discourse. So typically mainstream media debates revolve around: How many troops are required for Afghanistan? Or should drone attacks on Pakistan be expanded? The embedded premises are never articulated and thus are never open to scrutiny, understanding, and challenge. The media mostly function as a kind of Hallelujah chorus praising the system of power and privilege but ever quick to highlight the sexual peccadilloes of individual politicians, celebrity sightings and divorces, steroids and sports, extreme weather and sensational crime usually missing children. The trees are closely examined and the forest is totally missed. An enormous abyss exists between media-drawn depictions and actual fact. An independent media free from corporate control can break through the spin and be the span that provides genuine information that links citizens to reality rather than fantasy.

Amy Goodman is the award-winning host of "Democracy Now" the daily syndicated radio and TV program. Howard Zinn says, "Amy Goodman has carried the great muckraking tradition of Upton Sinclair, George Seldes, and I.F. Stone into the electronic age, creating a powerful counter to the mainstream media." She's the author of The Exception to the Rulers and Breaking the Sound Barrier.